Tag Archives: Wild card

Ah, Game 162! That epic final night of the 2011 regular season, when the triumphant comeback of the Cardinals and monumental collapse of the Braves was complete, yet was just one part of a fantastic evening. (Though obviously the part we as Cards fans cared about the most.)

Experience again MLB’s highs and lows from the evening here (it’s worth the 12 minutes, especially to see bits of Chris Carpenter’s performance — plus isn’t it always nice to see the Red Sox complete their collapse? And the Braves as well?). Then continue on below to read what was published here five years ago about Game 162, which made the “September to remember” complete. That final sentence is rather prescient in retrospect, if I do say so myself. (OK, only because we know the final fairy-tale ending. Still …)

That’s A Historic Comeback Winner!

The comeback climb is finished, and in the best way possible — the Cardinals are the Wild Card Champions!

Carp, Albert and an epic hug

The details are so familiar now: on the morning of Aug. 25, the Cards were 10 1/2 games behind the Braves. They’d just been swept by the Dodgers — Aaron Miles’ revenge — and were 67-63.

The the winning began, with that 8-4 Social Media Night victory over the Pirates. The winning continued. And now, history.

Making the playoffs after trailing by 10 1/2 after 130 games is, according to Fox Sports Midwest, the biggest comeback in history. No. 2 on the list? The 2011 Tampa Bay Rays, who are the AL Wild Cards Champs following their own stunning win in Game 162. At one point they’d been 9 games back. Third on the list? The 1964 Cardinals, who trailed by 8 1/2 games before propelling themselves to the National League pennant.

The Cardinals’ win was achieved without any of the tension or drama of Tuesday night. They took command from the very beginning, with five straight hits to open the game. Albert drove in the first run for RBI No.99, and the scoring continued until Nick Punto drove in run No. 5. Chris Carpenter came to bat before even taking the pitchers mound — always a good sign.

With the Pirates handily beating the Reds in last night’s Wild Card game, they are now set to return to face the team that snatched the division title out from underneath them. A team they’ve beaten 10 times this season, including four in a row during one abnormally difficult stretch for the now NLC Champs. The Pirates have been a thorn in the Cardinals’ side all season. And it’s not over yet.

Sure, the Reds would have likely been an easier challenge. They seemed to run out of steam about a a week ago. Not to mention, the Cardinals have fared far better against Cincy than Pittsburgh in 2013. Avoiding the pesky Pirates in another five-game series would have boosted the Cardinals’ chances.

But, as they say, if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. And between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati? The best team is headed to St. Louis.

One more time this season, the Cardinals better be doing their homework on the Pirates.

I’ll be honest: I wasn’t rooting for the Cardinals to have the best record in the National League. Yes, it’s a great distinction to have and home field advantage is obviously a terrific benefit. But I didn’t want the Cardinals to play the wild card team in the division series.

Or either of these wild card teams, anyway.

Especially the Reds.

Let me channel my inner-Brandon-Phillips (and I’m ready to puke just for typing those words) and let me make this clear: I hate the Reds. I hate Dusty Baker, I hate Johnny Cueto, I hate Bronson Arroyo — I could keep going down the list but I especially hate Phillips. Oh, and Thom Brennaman. And sorry, Ryan Ludwick, I even hate you when you have that uniform on. So, the 19 times that the Cardinals have already played them this season is much more than enough.

Jon Jay, Daniel Descalso and David Freese as the team was headed to Houston. (Photo: @danieldescalso)

On Aug. 26, the words “Cardinals” and “wild card” did not go together. Trailing the Braves by 10 1/2 games meant that wasn’t even something to consider.

Yet the lead began to shrink. It was 8 1/2 games on Sept. 5, then 4 1/2 on Sept. 12 following a sweep of the Braves. Now, of course, it’s down to 1 — with three chances to close the gap completely.

The September we’ll remember comes down to tonight, tomorrow and Wednesday in Houston. The September the Braves so far want to forget comes down to tonight, tomorrow and Wednesday at home against the Phillies.

If you’re worried the Cardinals might be tense or uptight about what’s ahead, take a look at the picture. Hawaiian shirts were the theme for this “happy flight.”

Yesterday’s win, just like Saturday’s, was another comeback. And the hero, Rafael Furcal, received welcome redemption after a rough couple days. His ninth inning error Thursday afternoon against the Mets started that game’s unraveling. And, as Derrick Goold writes, that had been on Furcal’s mind:

“For me, it made me wake up,” Furcal said. The error “was in my mind the last two or three days. It’s tough the way we are here now and one mistake, something like that, and you’re finished. I couldn’t sleep. … It’s something that I had in my mind, that I had to pick up my team because we’re fighting for a place in the playoffs. It is a good moment.”

That “good moment” was an eighth inning homer to put the Cards up 3-2. It followed a Yadier Molina home run an inning earlier to tie the game — Yadi’s 14th of the season. His 2-for-3 day pushed his batting average to .305. The Cardinals third RBI was courtesy of an Edwin Jackson game-tying sacrifice fly in the fifth. Continue reading →